Looting Bodies

[Ghendar]

Was I being unfair? What would you have done?

No.
A similar situation arose in a game once. The party killed a high level wizard. Unfortunately, he was a load bearing villain and when he died, everything around us started to disintegrate. Well, we freaked and took off but we never looted his body even though, as we found out later, we would have had time to do so.

However, we didn't whine to the DM, we just sucked it up and moved on. I guess every group is different.

Players need to state what they are doing or it doesn't happen.

 

[wolff96]

A similar situation arose in a game once. The party killed a high level wizard. Unfortunately, he was a load bearing villain and when he died, everything around us started to disintegrate.

I'm not here to actually comment on the thread, but I had to de-lurk long enough to mention how hilarious I find the term "load-bearing villain" to be every time I stumble across it.

It's been a crappy morning, so thanks for making me laugh.

 

[Arnwyn]

Was I being unfair?

You were being fair (playstyle and precedent dependent, of course).

What would you have done?

I wouldn't have told them how much they missed. "I'm not looking it up."

 

[billd91]

That's all and well, but what would your response be if one of them said "We didn't get loot for that last battle. What was it?"

IMC, I usually just give them the list, they modify their sheets and we move on.

If my players said that, I'd say that they answered their own question.... Unless they then go back and loot the bodies.
Some things may be automatic, but in dangerous environments, looting the bodies is not one of them.

 

[Ghendar]

I'm not here to actually comment on the thread, but I had to de-lurk long enough to mention how hilarious I find the term "load-bearing villain" to be every time I stumble across it.

It's been a crappy morning, so thanks for making me laugh.

Yeah, it is a great term isn't it?

 

[delericho]

Was I being unfair? What would you have done?

Nope. I would have done much the same, except I wouldn't have told the players how much loot they'd missed. Of course, my players would also never pass up an opportunity to loot, so it wouldn't come up in my game.

 

[Bardsandsages]

Looting is not breathing or getting dressed in the morning. it is not an automatic thing. If they didn't say it, they didn't do it. The only place you messed up is telling them the amount. Loot can be cursed. Loot can be trapped. Loot can do a lot of nasty things to people. You don't automatically get it and know how to use it. It needs to be searched, identified, and distributed. Heck, they might not have been able to carry it if they didn't have the means to do so.

Its the MMORPG mentality creeping into pen and paper games. Just because you kill something doesn't mean you automatically pick up all its gear, know what it is, and know how to use it.

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

Looting is not breathing or getting dressed in the morning. it is not an automatic thing.

Okay then, if it's not automatic like breathing or belting on your sword in the morning... what ARE the automatic things that characters do. Is there a list? I would assume not as these are matters of common sense. I say it's common sense that CHARACTERS will remember to loot bodies even if PLAYERS forget.

Its the MMORPG mentality creeping into pen and paper games. Just because you kill something doesn't mean you automatically pick up all its gear, know what it is, and know how to use it.

Just because I assume that characters will know and do things that players forget doesn't mean that it's all just a free pass. Consequences of trapped and cursed items will still be applied to someone - chosen at random and applied without malice or hesitiation if all the players try to weasel out of it. Magic items must still be identified. Valuables must still be appraised. Unknown factors must still be explored by interchange with the DM.

It being a matter of common sense IMO it CAN seem unfairly arbitrary as to how/when it's applied. The advantage is that players almost never know. Once in a great while they will fail to loot the bodies but there will be good reason to assume that their characters DID forget. Generally this occurs when combat begins in one area and leads far into another without a pause. The players may not remember to retrace their steps back to the original location and in such cases I have simply NOT TOLD them they have forgotten. Sometimes they will say something 5 minutes later at the table but days, weeks or even months of game-time can be considered to have elapsed. In such cases I STILL give the players the benefit of the doubt. After all, if the players remember to loot the bodies after forgetting for 5 minutes or an hour then couldn't the characters be considered to have remembered after a similar or LESSER amount of elapsed time and allowed to go back without undue consequence?

 

[Arnwyn]

I say it's common sense that CHARACTERS will remember to loot bodies even if PLAYERS forget.

Sure... in your game.

(Same to those who assume it's not automatic.) No question, playstyle and precedent are what's ruling the roost, here.

 

[Arkham]

As many have said, it depends on circumstances. There are many reasons why the Characters would forget to loot the bodies, from load-bearing bosses, to fatal injuries, to villainous monologues.

But the key question is, when the players remember, is there a chance for them to return to the scene?
If so, don't tell them what it is until they go get it.

If there is no chance, such as load-bearing bosses, planes collapsing, etc, then not only would I tell them how much they missed out on, but I would detail the magic items and even throw in some unlikely things that they can't have while mocking them.

"Sorry, the demi-plane of the arch-lich Krakodon has collapsed, and now you can't get his almost full Staff of the Arch-magi.